The 2019-20 Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast season continues with Janáček’s Kát’a Kabanová, starring renowned Finnish soprano Karita Mattila in a performance from 2004.
Mattila sang the title role of a sensitive young woman who yearns to escape an oppressive domestic life. Tenor Jorma Silvasti was Kát’a’s lover Boris, and mezzo-soprano Judith Forst sang the role of her domineering mother-in-law Kabanicha.
The cast also featured Magdalena Kožená and Raymond Very as the young lovers Varvara and Vanya, Chris Merritt as Kát’a’s husband Tichon, and Vladimir Ognovenko as the curmudgeonly Dikoj.
The late, revered Czech maestro Jiří Bělohlávek conducted Janáček’s hauntingly beautiful score.
This archival performance of Kát’a Kabanová from December 25, 2004, will be heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 2.